A man arrested in connection with the murder of Stephen Lawrence has today pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply £4million worth of cannabis.

Neil Acourt, 40, who was one of five youths arrested over the racist murder of Stephen, 18, at a bus stop in Eltham, south east London in 1993, admitted the drugs offence at Kingston Crown Court.

He sat in the dock wearing a grey tracksuit and spoke only to enter a guilty plea when the charge - relating to the supply of Class B drug cannabis resin - was read out to him.

Neil Acourt, 40 (right), who was one of five youths arrested over the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence, 18 (left), at a bus stop in Eltham, south east London in 1993, admitted conspiracy to supply £4m worth of cannabis

Jack Vose, 62, of Newcastle, and Daniel Thompson, 27, of South Shields, also appeared in the dock with Acourt today and also pleaded guilty to the drugs offence.

The trio were accused of conspiring with others to supply the Class B drug between January 1, 2014 and February 2 this year.

They were charged after police seized approximately 100 kilos of cannabis following a surveillance operation that lasted for two years, Scotland Yard said.

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It is thought the men were couriering the drugs between London and Newcastle and also had links to Spain, where Acourt is known to spend a large amount of time.

Acourt, who also goes by the name of Neil Stuart, was 16 when Stephen was murdered and at the time was under suspicion for stabbing a man at a nightclub in Greenwich.

He revelled in the notoriety of the case and had an obsession with knives, even admitting carrying a knife on a couple of occasions for protection.

Stephen's mother, Doreen Lawrence, has campaigned fiercely for justice for her teenage son

Acourt was named by police informants as being one of the murderers and in a 1999 TV interview with Martin Bashir admitted it was an 'amazing coincidence' that the five suspects fitted the descriptions of the white youths who killed Stephen.

The fugitive was one of five thugs sensationally named as Stephen's killers by the Daily Mail in 1997.

Two of the original suspects, Gary Dobson and David Norris, were convicted of murder in 2012 – 19 years after Stephen was stabbed to death in a racially motivated attack.

But three other suspects, including Acourt, have never been charged.

Detectives have been unable to gather forensic evidence linking him to the murder and he was not identified by witnesses.

Although the smallest of the gang, Acourt was regarded by murder squad detectives as the leader.

At his family home a few minutes from the murder scene, officers found weapons including a knife, a Gurkha-type dagger and a sword.

Since the Lawrence killing, he has been repeatedly in trouble with the police.

In 2001 he was convicted of possessing an offensive weapon, a baton, which he claimed he needed for protection from revenge attacks.

The next year, he and Norris were each jailed for 18 months for a racist attack on an off-duty black detective.

Acourt was suspected of smuggling illegal immigrants through the Channel Tunnel. He and Dobson were arrested after their friend John Caetano was caught with seven illegals hidden in a Transit van.

Stephen Lawrence was murdered at a bus stop in Eltham, south east London (pictured above) in April 1993

Floral tributes left at the scene for Stephen who was killed in a racially motivated attack in south east London

Dobson and Acourt were following in a car, but the case against them was dropped. Caetano was jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Despite his continued brushes with the law, Acourt has settled down with his girlfriend, renowned party girl Claire Vose, 33, with whom he shares a bungalow. He drives around in a Mercedes jeep and Golf GTi.

Miss Vose is close friends with Terri Dean, long-term partner of Neil's brother Jamie. Another friend on Facebook is Charlotte Hunter, ex-girlfriend of Gary Dobson and mother of his teenage son.

Acourt's estranged grandfather John Acourt, who lives in the Westcountry, wants nothing to do with him.

A sentencing date for the three men has yet to be set.

...SO WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER LAWRENCE MURDER SUSPECTS?

GARY DOBSON

Gary Dobson was one of two men to be convicted of Stephen's murder in 2012 and jailed for 15 years

Gary Dobson was one of two men to be convicted of Stephen's murder in 2012 - 19 years after the teenager was stabbed to death in a racially motivated attack.

Dobson was first arrested 15 days after Stephen was chased down and stabbed to death in the street in Eltham, south-east London.

He was one of five white youths, all alleged to be members of the same street gang, who were charged with Stephen's murder, but the charges were then subsequently dropped by the CPS.

When Stephen's parents Doreen and Neville Lawrence launched their own private prosecution in 1994, Dobson was among the three acquitted of murder at the Old Bailey.

On 14 February 1997, on a famous front page, the Daily Mail labelled Dobson, Norris and three other suspects 'murderers'.

The headline read, 'Murderers: The Mail accuses these men of killing. If we are wrong, let them sue us.' Beneath it appeared pictures of Dobson, Norris, Neil and Jamie Acourt, and Luke Knight.

None of the men ever sued for defamation and strong public opinions rose against the accused and the police who handled the case.

In 1999 the McPherson report into the Metropolitan Police's handling of the case found a litany of failures and accused the force of 'institutional racism'.

Dobson worked as a bricklayer and labourer at building sites across London, but at the time of his re-arrest for Stephen's murder he was serving a five-year sentence for drug dealing.

He was finally convicted in 2007, after a cold case review found 'new and substantial evidence' and his original acquittal was quashed in the court of appeal.

He is now serving a minimum of 15 years behind bars.

Two years ago, he split from his partner of 10 years and mother of his two sons, Michelle Lines.

She is said to have left him for a new man but he confirmed the pair had broken up 'amicably'.

'She has since met somebody,' he said on Facebook at the time. 'A fellow who I kind of knew and got on well with. As for names and details they are to remain private. Thank you, Gary.'

Dobson and Ms Lines had lived in Swanley, Kent, with their two sons, as well as a child from Dobson's previous relationship.

During his Old Bailey trial she was a regular in the public gallery, waving lovingly at him; and as the jury prepared to consider their verdict, he blew a kiss to her.

DAVID NORRIS

David Norris was convicted over Stephen's murder in 2012 and was sentenced to 14 years behind bars

David Norris, a gangster's son, was the other man to be convicted over Stephen's murder in 2012.

He was named as a suspect within 48 hours of the murder in April 1993 but dodged justice for years.

He was the one member of the gang who wasn't based or near the estate where Stephen was killed, and instead lived with his mother in Chislehurst, south-east London.

He knew Jamie Acourt through a football team they played for, and the pair were friends from the age of 14.

Norris was 16 and had left school when Stephen was murdered.

After avoiding justice for years, he was eventually arrested over the murder in September 2010 after an expert review of forensic evidence. Fibres and hairs linked him and Dobson to their victim.

Norris, who has five children from various relationships, is now serving a minimum of 14 years in prison, for what the judge described as a 'terrible and evil crime'.

He has tried to appeal his sentence on several occasions, claiming that the use in evidence of a surveillance video showing him to be racist was unfair. However, his applications for permission to appeal by both men were rejected by a single judge who considered the papers from the case.

JAMIE ACOURT

Jamie Acourt was named as a suspect in the Stephen Lawrence murder case but never convicted.

The pressure of being a murder suspect almost drove the 35-year-old younger brother of Neil Acourt to start a new life in Spain with Terri Dean, mother of his two children.

Jamie Acourt feared he would remain under constant police surveillance if he remained in the UK and was 'sick' of being followed and watched.

His five-bedroom home in a London suburb went on the market for £354,495 in 2007, three years after he paid £227,000 for it.

But he decided against emigrating at the last minute because he and Miss Dean decided it would be too hard to be away from family and friends.

At that time neighbours said Acourt did not appear to have a full-time job but still managed to run a flash BMW sports car and an expensive Nissan 4x4 vehicle, and his partner drove a VW Golf.

Jamie Acourt was named as a suspect in the Stephen Lawrence murder case but has never been convicted

They had also spent thousands of pounds improving and extending their home.

On the birth certificate for his daughter, who was born in 1999, Acourt described himself as a steel fixer while Miss Dean put her occupation as 'Training Adviser (motoring)'. The couple also have a younger son in primary school.

Neighbours say Acourt often 'disappears' for days at a time and, despite no obvious sign of employment, enjoys day-long drinking binges at local pubs.

Since the Lawrence case, he has had only one conviction, when he and Norris stole empty soda siphons from a drinks warehouse in 1999. He was allowed to pay his £250 fine at £10 a week after the court heard he was living on disability allowance.

His estranged grandfather John Acourt, 76, who lives in the Westcountry, wants nothing to do with him or Neil.

He said: 'Just because we share the same surname doesn't mean we are the same sort of people. We don't have anything to do with them.'

LUKE KNIGHT

Luke Knight was deemed a suspect in the Lawrence murder but has always maintained his innocence

More than any other member of the Lawrence gang, 35-year-old Luke Knight has struggled to cope with his notoriety.

Several years ago he failed to persuade Greenwich Council that he should be rehoused because of intimidation. He claimed to be suffering from psychological problems after threats from anti-racist groups.

As with the Acourt brothers, it is not clear what he does for a living. Sources say he routinely drives around roundabouts several times, in the mistaken belief he is being followed, and often double backs on himself when driving.

The son of a market trader, Knight was born in Southwark, south London, in November 1976. He has spoken publicly about the Lawrence murder twice, in a joint ITV interview with the other suspects in 1998 and at the public inquiry later that year.

But several years ago, he broke his silence to declare: 'I'm an innocent man. I've done nothing wrong. I'm totally innocent – I wasn't even there [at the murder scene].

'I have two little girls now. I have not told them about all of this. One day I will, I'll tell them that I am totally innocent.

'I've had 15 years of this – how do you think I'm coping? I can't even get a job.'

That might be the case, yet he still manages to live in a smart terrace house in New Eltham, on a street which runs parallel with the one which houses his old friend Neil Acourt's bungalow.

According to sources, he has maintained links with all the other gang members.

In the past, he has been seen socialising with the Acourt brothers in and around Eltham, and was seen with them in a sports shop in nearby Welling looking to buy snooker cues.

Like the other Lawrence suspects, there is no trace of Knight on any online social network sites.